Dead Serious
by ViolentBloodrush
Summary: Nearly 2 months in and Alexandra is alone. Groups were never her thing, and even now during the apocalypse they still don't sit well with her. One day she stumbles across a group near a quarry, and finds two people she knows. Unwillingly she stays, in an attempt to help them survive just a little longer. (Rated M for Language and possible sensitive scene in the future)
1. Chapter 1

**Dead Serious – Chapter 1**

 _Nearly 2 months in and Alexandra is alone. Groups were never her thing, and even now during the apocalypse they still don't sit well with her. One day she stumbles across a group near a quarry, and finds two people she knows. Unwillingly she stays, in an attempt to help them survive just a little longer. (Rated M for Language and possible sensitive scene in the future)_

 **After an extremely long break from Dead Serious, I came back re-read and decided I needed to re-write the whole thing to get back into it and hopefully make it better. Parts of the original are going to be kept, but probably only very little.**  
 **The temporary cover does not belong to me, I found it here;** **shiptech/girls-with-guns/**  
 **Here is the link to the image;** **.** **.  
** **If anyone would like to make me a proper cover I would love that.  
** **Comments and reviews are appreciated.**

 **Rated M for language and violence, and possible adult themes that maybe mentioned later in the story.**

 **I do not own The Walking Dead, or the characters, only my OC's and any changes made to the original TV Series.**

* * *

Alexandra grunted in discomfort, but made no movement to get comfortable. It was a lost cause, as she had tied herself to a tree branch, high enough from biters and prying eyes. Her bag was being used as an incommodious pillow, various tins digging into the side of her head, one of her arms positioned awkwardly through the strap to anchor it to herself.

Small rays of light flickered through the tree, proving the sun had risen and Alex had not slept a wink. Another annoyed grunt was followed by the motion of sitting up, cramp slowing setting into her muscles from the discomfort and lack of movement.

The sun was pretty high by the time Alex had set off, her mental preparation checklist had reached lengthy in the last few weeks. Alex failed to see the row of tin cans that had been strung between the trees, a small attempt of a barricade or even an early detection system, until it was too late. Mentally scolding herself, Alex kept her eyes and ears alert after the noisy clattering had stopped. Not hearing anything, she continued to slowly walk adjacent to the barricade.

After a few minutes, she stopped as unease slid down her spine, a feeling she had grown to hate with a passion but yet trust as much as her other senses. She heard them approaching before she could see them.

"Hands up!" A male voice snapped at her, as he and another male emerged from the trees the other side of the cans.

A quick assessment of the guys for danger didn't tell Alex much. The one who had spoken had dark dishevelled heir and grey shirt smudged with dirt. He held a gun, pointed at her, more confidently then the Korean guy next to him. The Korean shook as he raised his gun, obviously not willing to use it.

One of Alex's arms slowly twitched towards her hip, which caused another voice to yell out to her;

"Don't try anythin'. Less you want a' arrow between the eyes."

The voice was a shock to Alex, whom had not even heard the person approach her from behind. She realised that she was stuck, and there was no way out of this, so Alex raised her arms slowly and peered at the newcomer. This one's appearance, compared to the other two, radiated danger. Like he had announced, he had a crossbow trained straight to her face, not even a tremble in his arms despite the weight of the weapon he carried.

"Move," A simple command was thrown at her along with a twitch of the crossbow towards the two men. The Guy with the grey shirt went to grab her arm, but she darted away and tumbled back into the redneck.

"Wha' I say?" The annoyance was clear in his voice, enough to make Alex comply in the hopes he wouldn't use the crossbow on her.

The walk to their camp was steady. The trees thinned and the Korean guy expressed his concerns of bring her back to the camp, which contained women and children. Panic set in as they got closer to the camp, Alex noticed the cluster of tents and dreaded the amount of people.

A boy stopped what he was doing, and turned to the small group marching towards the camp.

"Who's that, Shane?" The question was thrown to the guy in the grey shirt, who had a tight grip on Alex's arm, as the boy came to a stop in front of them.

"Carl! Get back here!" A woman, assumingly his mother, snapped that the boy as she ran towards him and shielded him from the newcomer.

Attention was now drawn to the new group, and others started to edge closer. A guy in a sheriff's uniform stepped up to them, eyeing Alex as he approached.

"What's going off?" His eyes were still on Alex, but the question was directed at the three men.

"Caugh' her sneakin' around the camp, probably trying to steal supplies," The redneck grumbled, stepping out from behind her and towards the sheriff.

"Like I would steal supplies off a redneck twat like you," Alex's voice was cracked from lack of speaking, but it still reached the desired effect. Instantly he spun around and there was a blinding pain to Alex's jaw. The force was enough to knock her out of Shane's grip and onto her back. Alex could hear the scuffle above her, the redneck cursing as they tried to restrain him from beating her to a pulp.

Standing to her feet, Alex blinked back the floating lights from her eyes and spat to rid the metallic taste of copper from her mouth.

The Sheriff stepped forwards, thumbs tucked into his belt. The look of an American police officer, that Alex had grown up seeing on the TV.

"Sorry about that, Daryl has a bit of a temper," He pulled his out in front of her, "Names Rick."

Alex ignored the outstretched hand, and searched his face for danger. Seconds past and the sheriff's smile started to drop, followed by his hand.

Suddenly a yell startled the group to spin around and two figures darted towards them, tackling Alex.

"We thought you were dead!" One cried, as the other picked up Alex and spun her around.

"Tom? Liz?" Alex's voice cracked.


	2. Chapter 2

**Was meant to post yesterday, but was a little busy with the family. Sorry. Here it is.**

* * *

 **Dead Serious – Chapter 2**

The sun had started to set, and the twins had not yet left Alex's side. After being dragged to one of the fires that everyone was sat around and was handed a bowl of unidentified meat, Alex began to take in the twin's appearances. Tom's once short brown hair was now unruly and had been bleached by the Georgia sun and Elizabeth's was now cut short.

Liz noticed Alex eyeing her short hair, and instinctively brushed the ends with her fingers.

"Walker grabbed in the day we go separated. I didn't want it happening again, so I asked Lori to cut," Liz leaned over and pushed a strand of Alex's hair behind her ear, "You cut yours too?"

Alex rubbed the back of her neck, her short hair exposing it, and nodded. Memories of when she cut is, flashed behind her eyes.

"So you're from England as well?" Glenn, the Korean guy, spoke up. Most of the group had heard a lot about Alex from the Twins, but had yet to even hear a sentence from herself. The question was only met by a nod.

"We were on holiday when the world went to shit," Tom explained further, "Lucky, Alex's father was big on hunting and surviving in the woods and didn't have any son's he could pass the hobby on to, so he settled for teaching Alex. She's the reason we survived for about a week, before we got separated and bumped into you guys."

Daryl had approached the group, with the intent on sorting a plan to find his brother, during the conversation. He eyed the girl they had found earlier that day, doubting the hunting skill that Tom had claimed she had been taught. Sure she was quiet, but she looked like she lacked the body strength and agility that was needed to hunt. Hunting was much more than finding an animal and killing it, it was a way of life for Daryl, the mentality was needed for it.

"So, we gonna talk 'bout gettin' my brother?" Daryl broke himself from his thoughts and spoke his mind on what he came over for in the first place. Alex's jaw twanged at the sound of the redneck. Apparently he had just received some bad news about his brother that morning, almost making Alex feel guilty for trying to get a rise out of him.

"Told ya I'm going back, I'll get him," Rick told Daryl. Everyone noticed the look of anger Shane gave him whilst, Lori and Carl looked away sad.

"Just tell me why?" Shane spoke up, "Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?"

"Hey! Choose ya'll words more carefully," Daryl threw at him, defending his absent brother.

"Nah, I did. Douche bag is what I meant," Shane turned to him, daring him to throw a punch first, "Merle Dixon, that guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. **I** can't let a man die of thirst – Me. Thirst and exposure," Rick emphasized. "We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

"So you and Daryl? That's your big plan?" Lori cut in.

Rick turned to Glenn with a pleading look, who in turn flinched, not wanting to be involved.

"You know the way, you've been there before – in and out, no problem. You said so yourself. I know it's not fair to ask, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too," Rick indicated to his wife. Glenn looked torn, before agreeing.

Alex looked around her, not wanting to be around the group any longer. She was just an outsider to them. She slowly stood up, not wanting to draw attention to herself, and slinked towards the tree line, and sat under a tree.

After what seemed like an hour of them arguing about the number of people going, the guns that were dropped on the previous trip, and Rick leaving his family after just arriving, the conversation turned to the newcomer of the group.

"I'm sorry guys, but I don't like having her around," Lori said apologetically to Tom and Liz.

"Why the hell now?" Tom stomped, getting defensive. They were willing to help his sister and himself, but not his best friend.

"She's barely spoke a word to any of us, we found her slinking around the camp. How do we know if she's not going to steal our stuff and run in the night?" Shane explained.

"We don't know what she's been through," Rick stood up.

He was right. They had no idea what she had been through. Tom glanced at the girl who sat under the tree pretending to ignore their conversation. She was a broken shell of the girl he used to know. She had just started to open up again when they decided to go on their trip to America, to get away from the memories of the accident that had took Tom's daughter's life. Tom knew that Alex had blamed herself, but he couldn't understand why she had reverted back to her shell. Both Liz and he had seen somethings, after getting split up with Alex, but maybe she had seen worse. Some days Alex just wished that she could wake up, and it was all a bad dream.

"Still not a good enough reason to trust her," Shane bit back.

Daryl shuffled, before pulling something out of his pocket.

"She's kitted out," He murmured, almost too low for Alex to catch. He flung the items down next to the fire for everyone to see. The glowing embers of the fire glinted off the dark stained metal of 3 knives. A frown crept onto her face, along with everyone else. How had he gotten them? A quick search confirmed he had swiped them from her bag. In one fluid motion she stood and stormed towards the fire, cutting off what Rick was about to say.

"You been riffling through my stuff, you damn Redneck?" She snarled, squaring up to him. His eyes flashed with the nickname.

"We have every right to do what we must to protect our group," Shane argued, ready to jump in.

"How do I know you guys aren't the dangerous ones?" Alex snapped back, "Here you are sheltered in your little quarry. Do you even know what is out there? The shit I've had to survive?"

She spun around and headed back to the trees. Tom attempted to stop her but she shook herself loose, leaving Tom just holding her hoody as she stormed off.

Nobody spoke a word, but they all saw. The glowing embers of the fire had shown the scars and bruises that littered her arms, and cast light on the blood stain top and old bandage that wrapped around her left forearm. Her words set into them, making them realize that maybe they had been the lucky ones, they were safe here. Very few walkers had come across their camp, and as far as they knew, people still had their humanity.

Daryl glanced at the girl. Within those last few minutes, she had instantly grown up in his eyes. She was no longer a young girl sheltered from the world, but someone who had been alone and surviving for the last 2 months. She had come across dangers that they hadn't seen, and managed to live. When she had squared up to him, the eyes of a feral animal shined back at him.

And that worried him.


End file.
